There are two sides to clan recruitment: players who are looking to join a clan, and clans who are looking to recruit more clanmates to their ranks.
The vexillum stands
To join a clan couldn't be simpler, and there are a few ways of doing so.
The first way is to simply jump in-game and head to the Clan Camp south of Falador. In the east of the camp you'll often find the vexillums of some of RuneScape's existing clans - you can look at these vexillums to get some information about a clan and, if it's one you would like to join, you can send a private message to that clan's recruiter. Also, you'll often be able to talk to a clan's recruiters here to ask them questions and find out first-hand what the clan is all about.
Another main way is to use the website's clan homepages. From here you can search through all officially registered clans. You can search for clans by name if you know who you're looking for, or you can search by a clan's keywords. Keywords are set by clans to give prospective clanmates a range of categories that summarise what the clan is for (e.g. a specific activity or skill, combat level, etc). If you find some clans that interest you, you can click through to each clan's homepage to get more information, see if they are currently recruiting new clanmates, and send them a request to join their clan.
Finally, you could also have a look at the general clan forums (such as the 'Looking for a clan' forum).
You should be aware that although some clans are happy to welcome anyone, others have specific entry requirements that you must fulfill before they will consider your request to join them. For instance, a quest clan could require you to already own a Quest Cape to join, or to have a minimum amount of Quest Points. On the general clan forums, we categorise clans as 'Under 90 Combat', '91-114 Combat', '115+ Combat' and 'Specialist Clans'. Before you apply to join a clan, make sure that you meet all of that clan's entry requirements.
As with joining a clan, there are a number of ways in which you can go about recruiting new clanmates for your clan. Again, the first of these is in-game at the Clan Camp south of Falador. The clan camp is not normally the most busy of places, so usally people try to recruit at the Grand Exchange or other popular places in RuneScape. However, at peak times of the day, the clan camp fills up on worlds 1 and 2, for free and members clans respectively. All around the outside edge of the camp is designated for recruitment. If you have one or more recruiters wield vexillums here, other players will be able to view info about your clan and send your recruiters private messages or talk to them about your clan.
There are also a number of stands in the east of the camp, in which you can plant your vexillum, helping it (and your clan) to stand out even more. You can leave your vexillum planted in these stands for up to 30 minutes, though they will also be removed if you log out or leave the Clan Camp. If you are in-game recruiting, especially if using the vexillum stands, make sure that your Private chat is set to 'On', so as to receive incoming messages from prospective recruits.
Of course, the general clan forums (such as Clan Home) are also a good place to find prospective recruits for your clan. You should also consider setting up a permanent thread in your clan's personal forum, putting the 'thread ID' of this thread on to your vexillum (via the 'Clan Settings' interface), so interested players can have a look. You could use this thread for any number of things, but we would suggest you link your Clan vexillum to your clan's recruitment thread.
You should also consider adding some keywords about your clan, again using the 'Clan Settings' interface in-game. This will also allow interested players to more easily find your clan homepage on the website. All of the information displayed on your clan's homepage (and its keywords) are those details you have set in-game on the Clan Settings interface. The one exception to this is your clans' 'About Our Clan' text, which can be edited by your clan's Owners and Admins direct on your clan homepage. One last thing: if you are currently recruiting new clanmates, make sure your vexillum says so with the appropriate setting - otherwise, some players might assume you're not and won't even bother to ask you!
Should you wish to grow your clan to be the best in whichever style you want to base your clan on(e.g. PvP, Skilling, PvM), another good tip would be to become player friendly. Talk to everyone who talks to you with a positive attitude and see if they'd like to join your clan. The best way to keep your clan strong is to make sure the players who can recruit others are just the same as you in this aspect. The friendlier your clan community is to strangers into the chat, the more they will be willing to join.
If you are in a clan, you are considered to be a clanmate. All clanmates have a 'rank', with all new clanmates starting out as recruits; some are also assigned a job. When you are invited into a clan (and accept), you are given the rank of Recruit. Anybody of rank Administrator, or higher, is able to change a member's rank, however he must input his/her pin first. Any clanmates given the rank of Deputy Owner or Admin are also able to change other clanmates' ranks and jobs.
The possible ranks are listed in the table below. Each clan will likely have its own criteria for how to move up the ranks - it could be based on your loyalty and commitment to the clan, number of PvP kills, or could just be assigned arbitrarily. You'll need to ask your clan's leaders what they're looking for and what expectations they have for clanmates of each rank (if any).
- Owner (Clan Leader)
- Deputy Owner
- Overseer
- Coordinator
- Organiser
- Administrator
- General
- Captain
- Lieutenant
- Sergeant
- Corporal
- Recruit
As well as ranks, some clanmates may be given a job too, which could be permanent or temporary, or something that moves from one clanmate to the next. These could be unique roles such as 'War Caller' or 'Event Organiser'; useful jobs to state a clanmate's role in a clan war such as 'Wizard' or 'Warrior'; fun things such as calling specific clanmates 'Fresh Meat' or 'Assassin'; or transient/status labels such as 'Member of the Month' or 'Retired'. Again, how these job roles are used and what they signify are determined by each clan.
- Clan members can leave anytime, even on the second they are recruited.
- Clan members can actually make a clan look bad by doing mischief ways, like trying to convince someone to leave.
- Clan members may not want to do what's needed for the clan they're in.
- Most players would pay someone to join, and they may get paid or not, and they could just leave with the money they are given.
